Take a photo of a barcode or cover
exurbanis 's review for:
Less Than Angels
by Barbara Pym
This 1955 novel is an incisive social satire that opens a window onto the insular world of London’s anthropologic community & its students.
Tongue firmly in check, Pym writes:
"Felix had explained so clearly what it was that anthropologists did (. . .) They went out to remote places and studied the customs and languages of the peoples living there. Then they came back and wrote books and articles about what they had observed (. . .) It was as simple as that. And it was a very good thing that these languages and customs should be known, firstly because they were interesting in themselves and in danger of being forgotten, and secondly because it was helpful to missionaries and government officials to know as much as possible about the people they sought to evangelize or govern."
In addition to the observations of those returned from Africa, Pym observes the townies observing their suburbanite brothers, women observing men, students observing graduates . . . all the world’s a foreign culture to someone.
Read this if: you want to try one of Pym’s gentle satires that doesn’t concern the Anglican (or any other) church.
4 stars
Tongue firmly in check, Pym writes:
"Felix had explained so clearly what it was that anthropologists did (. . .) They went out to remote places and studied the customs and languages of the peoples living there. Then they came back and wrote books and articles about what they had observed (. . .) It was as simple as that. And it was a very good thing that these languages and customs should be known, firstly because they were interesting in themselves and in danger of being forgotten, and secondly because it was helpful to missionaries and government officials to know as much as possible about the people they sought to evangelize or govern."
In addition to the observations of those returned from Africa, Pym observes the townies observing their suburbanite brothers, women observing men, students observing graduates . . . all the world’s a foreign culture to someone.
Read this if: you want to try one of Pym’s gentle satires that doesn’t concern the Anglican (or any other) church.
4 stars